Prof. Dr. Ralf Reski

Mosses saw dinosaurs come and go and they saw us humans coming. If we are not careful, they will see us go too.

We have developed the moss Physcomitrella to a flagship model organism for basic biology and biotechnology. Precise genome engineering via homologous recombination, haploidy of the plant, highly controlled growth conditions, and a sequenced genome facilitate gene discovery and dissection of signalling pathways. Counterintuitively, the moss genome comprises about 12,000 more protein-encoding genes than the human genome. We ask what their function is, how they evolved, and how they contributed to the conquest of land by plants some 500 million years ago.

We use moss bioreactors to develop biopharmaceuticals for the market. The first moss-made drug has successfully passed phase one clinical trials. Another candidate is human complement factor H, a central immune regulator. So far, only Physcomitrella is able to produce it recombinantly, and this protein may be helpful in a variety of human diseases, including kidney diseases, eye diseases and viral infections like COVID-19.

All peatlands together store about twice as much carbon as all forests together. Thus, their preservation is important to combat climate change. Nevertheless, peat is an important and so far indispensable substrate for the horticulture industry. We have established the world’s largest collection of peat moss (Sphagnum) species as laboratory strains. We analyse these peat mosses and optimise their growth in bioreactors to develop them as seeding material for peatland restoration and as a sustainable substrate for horticulture.